Arthur's Missing Pal is a 2006 CGI animated movie from the PBS Kids show Arthur and was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show.
The plot starts with Arthur and his friends having a water balloon fight until his dog Pal gives away Arthur's hiding spot. Arthur becomes mad at him for ruining the game, and also forgets to feed his dog breakfast. As a result, Pal runs away. Arthur feels guilty about what he did to Pal and tries his best to find him.
Unlike the show which is done in 2D, the movie was done in CGI, produced by Mainframe Entertainment with animation by Crest Animation Productions.
Tropes for this movie include:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Arthur is noticeably way more rude and harsher towards Pal than the books or the TV series, as he fails to feed Pal, yells at Pal for revealing his hiding spot in a water balloon fight even though the poor dog needed to pee, choked Pal by his neck dragging him with a leash and left him out in the hot sun tied up. However, Arthur gets a Jerkass Realization about how poorly he treated his dog.
- Aesop Amnesia: Implied. The movie hints that Pal has worms, which implied Arthur didn't learn his lesson from "Sick as a Dog" where he needed to be more careful about what Pal eats and still feeds Pal food he shouldn't eat.
- All-CGI Cartoon: Notably the first (and to date, only) installment in the franchise to be animated this way.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just when the Mary Moo Cow truck with Pal inside is about to head towards the freeway, Muffy's limo pulls backwards, blocking the truck's path and allowing Arthur and his friends to catch up.
- Big "NO!": D.W. shouts out "NOOOOOOOOO!" when she realizes her puzzle is about to get soggy after Buster knocks an open milk carton over it near the start.
- Black Comedy Burst: Mr. Kone makes a joke about his two dogs eating Pal, which is a morbid joke for the lighthearted series. He even makes this joke in front of Arthur, which comes across as a little insensitive.
- Broad Strokes: It's never stated where in the timeline the movie takes in the series as neither of them make any references to each other.
- Comically Missing the Point: During the water balloon fight, Brain alerts Buster and Arthur that the "pizza boy" arriving to Arthur's house is Francine, who has joined the fight in disguise. Buster thinks Francine got a job.
- Continuity Nod: The teenage boy who almost mows over Pal is the same boy D.W. saw curse at his mother in the episode "Bleep".
- Extremely Short Timespan: Aside from a flashback to the Sugar Bowl from the previous day, the majority of the film is set in over two days.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Two dogs at Mr. Kone's ice cream factory chase and antagonize Pal for a bit. It is later revealed by Mr. Kone that their names are Sugar and Spice.
- Foreshadowing: When D.W. is about to say where she saw Pal, she trails off. Arthur and Buster head over to interrogate her, but she soon changes the subject. This is a hint that she is the one who let Pal outside and go missing.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: A teenage boy mows a field while wearing earbuds and doesn't notice Pal until he is seconds away from him. Thankfully, the boy notices him in time and Pal gets out of the way.
- Heel Realization: After being told that the Mary Moo Cow truck driver had taken Pal into custody and given him a new name, Arthur finally realizes how horrible he was being to Pal.Arthur: Give me one good reason why Pal would ever want to come back with me. I left him out in the hot sun, I forgot to feed him, and I yelled at him when he needed to go outside. I've solved the mystery of why Pal disappeared, and it's not even a mystery at all. I'm a bad owner. Pal is lucky.
- Here We Go Again!: The story kicks off when Pal has a Potty Emergency, and it ends with Pal having another one.
- Large Ham: D.W., near the start of the movie when she's doing her puzzle and it keeps getting messed up.D.W.: PRIVACY! ME AND MARY NEED PRIVACY!
- No Flow in CGI: Due to the movie using low budget mid-2000s 3D animation, some corners had to be cut when translating Arthur into a different medium.
- Jane Read noticeably has much shorter hair than in the TV series probably because animating characters with long hair would be difficult.
- Arthur is also conspicuously sleeping on top of his bed in the movie's opening. This is probably so the animators would not have to spend time animating Arthur in his bedsheets.
- Potty Emergency: After Pal drinks his entire water bowl, he ends up having to go. He tries yapping at Arthur to get his attention, but it doesn't work.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- It is shown in the video recording of the water balloon fight that Arthur harshly scolded Pal when his yapping caused him to blow his cover, not knowing that he was trying to tell his owner that he had to pee.Arthur: Pal, what's the matter with you?! You wreck EVERYTHING! You ALWAYS wreck EVERYTHING!
- When D.W. calls Arthur with Jane's phone in an attempt to tell him that Pal is at the extravaganza, he doesn't believe her and thinks she's still trying to convince him to go to her show, so he calls her out for it.Arthur: Enough, D.W.! I can't believe you're still trying to get me to your dumb show! Well, Pal's not there! He's in a truck somewhere, and YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF! GOODBYE! (hangs up)
- It is shown in the video recording of the water balloon fight that Arthur harshly scolded Pal when his yapping caused him to blow his cover, not knowing that he was trying to tell his owner that he had to pee.
- Say My Name: Arthur screams Pal's name out loud three times throughout the movie: one when he does a Skyward Scream when he realizes his dog is out of the house, two when the ice cream truck drives away with Pal inside of it, and three when he's about to lose him for good when the hauler is about to get on the highway with Pal inside it.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Arthur immediately foregoes feeding Pal his breakfast to go play in a water balloon fight with his friends.
- When Arthur and his friends are trying to catch Pal before the truck he is on reaches the freeway, Muffy is alerted to take her limousine to catch it. Despite time being of the essence, Muffy spends a lot of time in her room deciding what to wear for the situation.
- Slow "NO!": Arthur screams "Oh, no!" in slow motion as Francine throws a water balloon at him after Pal makes him blow his cover.
- Tropey, Come Home: The plot of the movie is about Arthur looking for his dog Pal after a few circumstances early on cause him to go missing.
- A Truce While We Gawk: The Tibble Twins are fighting over a jump rope. Buster comes along, accidentally plays on their jump rope for a bit, and leaves. The Twins are amazed by Buster’s jumping skills, until they go back fighting.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- Buster interrupting Arthur to remind him of the big water balloon fight triggers the chain of events that causes Pal to disappear.
- D.W. letting Pal out into the garden to use the bathroom allows him to run off. In her defense, Arthur had been neglecting Pal after the water balloon incident.